


On Fire

by sasukesdumpling



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24892201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasukesdumpling/pseuds/sasukesdumpling
Summary: It's not that Shikamaru cares, necessarily. It's just that he doesn't. Not enough to hate Naruto. Not enough to like him, either.It's a slow, quiet pulse; his feelings for the boy.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 8
Kudos: 122





	On Fire

💙

The taste of coffee sticks to the backs of his teeth and he sucks the sweetness off with a click of his tongue. He's sitting alone on the threshold of the front of their dorms, palm flat on the brick surface, head tilted up at the black sky while he smokes his last cigarette. He's trying to stargaze in a dead city and all he finds are airplanes flitting past from the airport five miles over from their university. It sucks. Whatever.

There's a rustle behind him, six steps from his left where he knows the vending machine is. The light on the entrance flickers and buzzes. 

_Bang_

"Shit," a voice says. Rough and quiet and somehow still reaching Shikamaru's ears. He knows that voice. He turns around and sees the blond banging on the glass, where something is stuck hanging from metal springs, just almost making it to the dispenser. 

Shikamaru sighs, squishes the barely lit butt of his cigarette onto rough brick, and gets up to walk to the blond.

"You're loud even when you're quiet, you know," he says, when he's two feet away from Naruto, whose face is twisted in distress. 

"Oh," Naruto says, "Well, ya see. . ." The sentence goes nowhere.

Another sigh. Shikamaru fishes around the baggy pocket of his grey sweats for his quarters. "Do you need coins or something?"

Naruto flushes, as if his being dirt fucking poor isn't his one known personality trait after his softcore delinquency. Or is it his loudness? Shikamaru can't be bothered to figure it out.

Naruto smirks, "Why? You tryna be my sugar daddy?" It's a joke. But it's clear to Shikamaru by the way Naruto's flush still sits on his cheeks and the way his fingers fidget by his sides that he's trying to cover up his embarrassment. 

Shikamaru makes a little groan before he turns to the vending machine, pushes his coins into the metal slits and chooses the meal replacement shake Naruto originally got, bangs on the glass for luck, and watches it fall into the dispenser slot. He grabs it and hands it to Naruto wordlessly. 

When he looks up at the guy's face, his eyes are wide, shiny blue, the fluorescence hitting his irises sparking gold flecks. And then Naruto smiles, wide and all teeth, more of a grin than anything, cheeks pushing up into his eyes, eyes becoming sparkling crescents in the hugeness of his smile. 

It's Shikamaru's turn to flush. Pink seeps into the dark blue of the night, the almost golden light surrounding Naruto that must be a trick of the shitty light above them. And then he thinks, _the stars aren't dead, they've just tucked themselves away into Naruto's eyes, his smile._ Shikamaru wants to hit himself on the head for being so corny. But he can't take it back from his brain now, and he's not about to exert effort into clouding his mind enough that he starts believing he never thought it. 

And, it's not like he's suddenly in love. Not even like he cares about the boy. He just doesn't care enough to dislike him. But right now, his feelings seem like a slow, quiet pulse. 

"Thanks man! This is so nice. Next time I got money your cigarettes are on me." Naruto's voice is so happy. 

Shikamaru grins a small grin, not enough to show any teeth. "I'll hold you to that, since I just smoked my last cig."

Naruto smiles at him again. And again, Shikamaru thinks of the stars and wants to lay on the ground until a truck hits him. 

_Whatever._  
  


**Author's Note:**

> twitter @ uchimakiluv  
> tumblr @ sasukesdumpling 
> 
> comments are appreciated 💙


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